Coronado: A Winter's Day in Paradise

I was in the office this morning and thought it might be fun to show our Coronado views on one little corner.  Our Pacific Sothebys office is located at 1200 Orange Avenue.  From here I can see the Bank of America, Bistro d'Asia, Ristorante Terrazza, Pacific Western Bank, Island Pasta, and in the close distance, the Hotel del Coronado.  When sitting in your home or condo and watching the snow, these photos might remind you what life in San Diego can be during the winter.  Even the parking meters are friendly in Coronado.  What other communities do you know where parking meters are covered during the Christmas season.

Homes and condos offer an opportunity to enjoy our lifestyle.  If you would like to see what is available in Coronado, whether Coronado Village, Coronado Shores, or the Coronado Cays, just visit our search Coronado real estate for sale.

This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, Coronado luxury real estate agents.

Downtown San Diego Condos: Short Sale Updates. Run from RCS

What is happening in today's short sale world?  What have we learned working with our San Diego real estate owners?

There is some good news with short sales and some bad news.  Let's talk about the good news first. Many lenders have seen it is better for their bottomline to work with a seller and buyer than go through the foreclosure process.  These lenders are actually starting to be cooperative.  The Bank of America has adopted a computer based short sale process called Equator.  You can upload required documentation and see the short-sale process unfold.  If you are missing something, the system notifies you.  If you need something, the system notifies you.  The B of A is making it easier for the consumer to work through the mess they have found themselves in.  

Other lenders are not acting in good faith.  RCS (Residential Credit Solutions)  is one of those lenders as far as we are concerned.  We have been working with RCS for a year on a short sale and they have no intention of working with our seller.  Our seller is in the military.  She has been transferred.  She tried to keep up with payments.  It finally became too much.  We had a short sale buyer.  In our opinion, RCS acted in bad faith and our seller  lost the buyer.  We have been trying to obtain a loan modification for our seller.  She really wanted to keep the property.  RCS put up so many roadblocks, it became evident they would not work with a modification.

Our client is being deployed out of the country.  We tried the Sailor and Serviceman's Relief Act.  Our client should have been covered.  RCS spent the time and money to have attorneys find a loophole and our client is losing her condo to foreclosure tomorrow.  We are depressed about this.  She did everything she could to keep her condo.  We did everything we could to help her obtain a modification or workout.  The short-sale negotiator we used in this case did everything he could to help her.  RCS did nothing but hang up the phone and refuse to work in good faith.

We are sad and we are depressed because we know our client is not the only one experiencing this at the hands of RCS.  It makes you wonder why?  Are they receiving money on the backend from the U.S. Government?  What is really going on?  We don't know.  We will probably never know.  All we know is that in our opinion and experience,  RCS acted in bad faith and they probably aren't the only lender around doing that.  Our hats are off to lenders like the Bank of America, Wacovia and Wells Fargo.  They are at least trying to help the consumer.

If you would like some additional information regarding selling your home or condo, visit our Oops It Didn't Sell website. We have a FREE booklet you can download.  If you have any short-sale experiences to share, let us know.

Downtown San Diego Condos: Cash for Clunkers or Condos?

What's the difference between "Cash for Clunkers" and what we have experienced in the real estate market "Cash for Condos" or homes? Here is a really interesting article by Dave Ramsey of "Money Makeover" fame. He has a really interesting take on who benefited from this Cash For Clunkers program. Click here for Dave Ramsey's article

I think Dave is correct in his assessment. Some of these new car buyerscould definitely afford them, but there is a group of people who were enticed thinking they were getting "something for nothing". Little did they realize they were receiving a car payment along with a tax liability for the $3500-$4500 received.

This is like buyers in the frenzied marketplace of a few years ago. If you could breathe into a mirror, you probably could get a loan. Now we are seeing the consequences for this behavior for a number of Downtown San Diego condo owners. In spite of what they say, our experience with lenders like Chase, Wells Fargo, US Bank and others is that they will not reasonably modify a loan. To be fair, these lenders have the "short sale" departments up and running and are actually reasonable with processing a short sale. It the "Cash for Condo" theory. Instead of fixing the current condo loan, let's just turn the unit into a short sale and let the bank lose more money. Same government equals same theory.

By Sharyn & Victoria Crown, Coronado and Downtown San Diego real estate brokers

This is part of a series of articles entitled, New Condos, Downtown San Diego Style

Downtown San Diego Condos: Bank of America Nightmare

The greatest thing about having your own blog is the ability to discuss whatever you want to discuss, even if not real-estate oriented.  Here is my whine on a personal experience with the Bank of America.  Have you ever had a nightmare experience with your bank? I am just going thru one myself. If you love banks, skip this blog, but if you have been overcharged and underserved, keep reading. We have a rental unit in Memphis TN, a very nice city. Our tenant deposits his rent into our Bank of America checking account. Here is our deposit made on the 24th in Memphis. (Yea, hard to read isn't it?)

The deposit was made on the 24th. I checked online here in San Diego late afternoon on the 24th and the balance was positive and reflected the deposit. I then used my atm card for a couple of withdrawls. When I got home, I again checked my online balance and the account was positive even after the atm withdrawls.

Imagine my surprise the next morning to view my online account and see that the bank processed my atm withdrawls, but not the deposit. Lo and behold, I was now in the red and the bank charged me $105 in NSF charges.

I was stunned and contacted the bank...three times, Michele Udovich, Steve Thomson and Amanda Stenley at the Bank of America.  They were all very nice, but they can only do what the Bank of America says they can do, and if it is in a customer's benefit, the B of A isn't doing it.

Each time I got the bank line. Too bad, so sad, we can't and won't do anything to help you. The reasoning is that the deposit was made after their afternoon cutoff time. So if one uses that reasoning, then shouldn't the atm withdrawls also qualify for after cutoff time and be processed the next day just like the deposit.

Of course this is not how the bank reasons. Their reasoning is we deposit when convenient for the bank, and we withdraw when convenient to the bank. I know my frustration is going to go no where, but truthfully, I at least feel better being able to share this experience. I would love to hear if you have had any such experiences. We have paid these banks millions and billions as personal customers and now as taxpayers with TARP bailouts.

By Sharyn & Victoria Crown, Coronado and Downtown San Diego real estate brokers

This is part of a series of articles entitled, New Condos, Downtown San Diego Style